Microtek M1- Any Reviews

This has been a long road to follow. Does anyone know if any M1`s have been shipped and received and/

or are there any reviews or comments out there. I have a real bad feeling about this scanner because of all

the delays and holdups.

Good question, since it was supposed to be on the street this month - of which there are about three hours left. I sent an email enquiry to Microtek earlier today but have yet to get a response......

I'm supposedly in their first list of reviewers they'll send to and I haven't seen it yet.

Well, to the continuing saga... There's one mag which usually gets these gizmos for testing. A few issues down the road, maybe... One store actually offers the item for $ 699,- as a pre-order come-on of sorts. Cheaper than anticipated. Since it doesn't seem to be shipping, and I don't like to plug for anyone, U'll have time to do Ur homework.

 

I, for one, would wait until some of the (more serious) European tests (on the F1) appear.

There are several publictions which get things like this to test and review . While all of them actually put them through their paces, at Professional Photographer (http://www.ppmag.com), we do.

If you think M1 was good (2006) and M2 is better (Sept 2007), wait till you see M3 !

Thanks for the (much needed) laugh, John..!

KAFKA, anyone..?

But then, what do these manufacturers know about Kafka...

FWIW, there was a post earlier this week on one of the forums by one of the eager beavers who had gone ahead and contacted Microtek USA directly. He was told they are now hoping the units will be in US stores around the middle of November.

Hard to imagine Microtek bean counters allowing introduction of a scanner, given that Epson can casually roll out new models of printers (in some cases twice in a year)and that printers are infinitely more of a manufacturing challenge than scanners (heads, pigments etc).

 

Epson's manufacturing horsepower makes it easy to trump anything anybody attempts...whenever they care to.

 

Maybe Epson's hoping Microtek keeps trying...wants the competitive pressure. Lacking pressure from Minolta, proven by the miserable 5400II, Nikon hasn't bothered to upgrade scanners for years.

 

Canon and HP are taking a bite out of them in printers, but Epson's BUSINESS secret is that they're a paper and pigment company at heart, so if push comes to shove they can give the printers away, as they almost do with their current 280.

 

Microtek needs important PATENTED ideas to compete, not to mention Ice (D'oh!).

Why buy an M1, it's already almost a year old. LOL. A new Epson will likely be announced pretty soon based on how often they introduced them in the past. Microtek had the edge regarding time frame,and blew it. If it ever comes out...it better be a killer.

Like Ellis, I am on the list to get one of the first machines for evaluation. AFAIK, the

machines are sitting in the warehouse waiting to be shipped. They had to redo some labeling

and that is the only thing that has further delayed shipping.

Unless, of course, they've already been recalled for lead paint hazards.....

Calumet's virtually giving newest Epson printers away with digicams. AFIAK Hunts will start giving M1's away with Fuji film.

Ted, I am aware it is just about ready to come out. But, I think continually changing the dates has angered many customers who got fooled into waiting, and their time could have been used enjoying another brand product. I don't consider that good business practice, and while they were delaying the product I'm sure Epson has been making their plans for the next generation machine with the M1 as their reference to surpass. I hope Epson announces something in the next few weeks (just before Xmas). If I were in the mkt for one, I would wait a little longer to teach them a lesson.

Here's something for "Enquiring Minds"... could explain M1 delay as well as Microtek's stupid-seeming lack (so far) of Eastman Kodak's Digital Ice:

 

http://www.mclabs.com/company/bios/Don_Slivensky.aspx

 

Maybe you-know-who is buying Microtek...maybe the M1s in the fantasy warehouse are being retrofitted with Ice, getting a yellow box while we sleep :-)

>>I hope Epson announces something in the next few weeks <<

 

They should be announcing something soon. Epson usually announces in Oct./Nov. and then delivers after the first of the year. The next version is already out in Japan. You can see it on the Japanese website. So far, the only "upgrade" I can see is that it has an LED light source in the lid.

 

I agree. Anyone who has been waiting after a year of promises and delays by Microtek should have moved on already.

John,

 

There appear to be two flaws with your last post:

 

flaw #1; It was Kodak who decided they couldn't get Digital ICE to work they way they think it should with the M1 design.

 

flaw #2 As far as I can tell those are two different companies with similar names.

Ellis is correct, John - we all make mistakes... Microtek not to be confused with Micro Tek.

 

I too got it wrong. The intro price by said ..... is only $ 599,-

 

Here's a little more info (on the F1) from microtek's German website.

 

"The ArtixScan F1 comes equipped with Microtek's exclusive PictuRescue photo reconstruction and restoration system. It features fast and easy photo reconstruction powered by DIGITAL ICE Photo Technology, as well as one-click photo restoration with ColoRescue? to revive faded photos and film. These automatic features streamline your image editing workflow, providing unparalleled productivity and increased profit margins. So purchase a ArtixScan F1 today to get professional photo restoration results in a fraction of the time."

 

Seems that the scanner will come with a specially modulated variation of ICE which they refer to as "powered by"... ICE but not quite..?

 

Because of all these rather mixed pieces of info, I would think that anyone interested should wait for reliable tests to appear. I would.

Ellis,

 

1)Microtek, founder and CEO formerly with Kodak, is not Microtek ?

 

http://www.mclabs.com/company/bios/Don_Slivensky.aspx

 

2) Kodak that couldn't make Ice work on Microtek? Or was it the other way around?

 

Several iterations of Ice (and Vuescan's infared) work beautifully on two generations of Nikon, Minolta, & Epson.

 

The best outcome might be retrofit of M1 with Ice...

I was apparently WRONG re Microtek Vs Micro Tek. Two different companies.

 

It's obvious that Microtek has had a reason for hinting in previous announcements that M1 had no Ice...would obviously be a fatal failing, if true.

 

Ellis said it's Kodak's fault that Ice didn't work on M1 (if true, that'd be Microtek's fault instead). But according to Wolf, Ice has been announced in Germany.

 

Wolf's reported German press release said Ice WILL be available after all. Maybe the many delays have to do with fixing the technology, or making a deal with Kodak :-)

 

Or, since an amusing press-release game has been played for a year or so, maybe Microtek has been hoping Epson will roll out something to replace 700/750 before M1 is introduced, enabling some last minute one-upmanship-decisions (such as this German hint of introduction of Ice). Timing is important in product rollouts.

 

Ellis: are you retained by Microtek for these periodic US announcements? I think I read somewhere that you're retained for reviews...did I misinterpret?

Concerning Ice on the M1. This is what Midwest says:

 

HI the M-1 does have ICE similar in the Silver Fast SE version software that comes included.

Midwest Photo Exchange